Corbyville, Ontario
Corbyville is a small community in Belleville, Ontario, Canada. It was started by Henry Corby, who came from England in 1832 as a baker and opened a little shop in Belleville. After serving in the Rebellion of 1837, he bought a steamboat called the Queen and ran it for four years. Corby later got interested in whisky because farmers used to make some of their grain into alcohol.
In 1857 he built a dam and a grist mill on the Moira River. In 1859 he opened a distillery that became more important than the mill. Henry Corby was elected mayor in 1867 and later served as a Conservative member of the Provincial Parliament. He died in 1881, and his son Harry took over the business. Harry started selling whisky by the bottle rather than by the barrel. In 1905 the company was named the H. Corby Distillery. The distillery closed in 1989.
Today, Corbyville has about 700 homes, and many people commute to Belleville. There is Harmony Public School for elementary grades, but no high school in Corbyville; most teens ride buses to Eastside High School in Belleville.
On April 5, 2009, much of the old Corby Distillery burned down, and arson was suspected.
Corbyville sits in a rural area with lots of wildlife. Animals you might see include deer, black bears, raccoons, porcupines, squirrels, foxes, rabbits, muskrats, groundhogs, and coyotes. Many birds are also found here, such as wild turkeys, American woodcocks, pileated woodpeckers, great blue herons, Canada geese, and kingfishers. The Moira River runs through part of Corbyville and is home to snapping turtles, crayfish, and garter snakes.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:02 (CET).